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Bibi: FreeSewing's Bibi Body Block

About Bibi

Bibi is a multifunctional building block for knit tops and dresses.

Bibi is a pattern building block

Bibi can be sewn as a simple top, but is mostly designed as a building block for other patterns or custom designs.

You may want to finish the hem, armholes, and neck using knit bands, knit binding or ribbing fabric. In this case, you may need additional material.

Designer Notes​

When I was designing my (in progress) Tina top, I originally was basing the pattern on Teagan and Brian. However, Tina is supposed to work for people with breasts and Brian is mostly designed for menswear and doesn't support much body and bust fitting. So I created Bibi as a base for Tina.

For Bibi, I reused code from Brian mostly for the sleevecap and armhole construction and added a basic front bust adjustment. Because Bibi is supposed to be usable for very different lengths, I also changed the sideline calculation to fit to the waist and seat measurements and added a sleeveless option. After some fine-tuning, this is basically the result.

While Bibi was specifically made to support people with breasts, it also works fine as a base for unisex clothes or t-shirts.

Essentially, Bibi is just a simple T-shirt/A-shirt pattern that tries to fit the body on default settings. You can use it as alternative to Brian to Teagan for creating your own designs, especially if you need some basic bust support.

However, it's also important to talk about what Bibi is not:

Bibi can definitely be sewn as a simple top or dress, but it's mainly designed as a building block for other patterns or your custom designs.

Bibi is highly customizable, but it does not necessarily represent a specific garment or follow a specific style. Some option combinations might not make much sense, and you may have to experiment with different options yourself to find the design you're looking for.

You can make Bibi as short as a sports bra, or as long as a dress, but that doesn't mean that Bibi creates a good bra or dress as is. A sports bra probably needs more darts and lots of negative ease, and if you just make it dress-length, it will probably look like a sack.

Additionally, when you make a dress with Bibi out of woven fabric, you'll have to ensure yourself that there is enough room for leg movement. Depending on the shape around the waist or the size of the neck hole, you also may have to add buttons or zippers on the front or back so you can actually put it on.

Bibi is also not a standard block/sloper for woven fabric. It only does a very basic front bust adjustment designed for stretchy knit fabric and will not work well as a base for fitted shirts and blouses from woven fabric. You'll also need to increase ease settings when working with non-stretchy fabric.

The name Bibi is a little joke and comes from Bibi und Tina, a German audio play for children, where 13-year-old witch Bibi Blocksberg is a companion of Tina. So it kinda makes sense.

Jonathan

What You Need​

To make Bibi, you will need the following:

  • Basic sewing supplies
  • About 1 - 3 metres (1.1 - 3.3 yards) of a suitable fabric (see Fabric options)
  • A short crop top without sleeves needs probably less than a meter, a long dress with sleeves needs much more fabric.
A serger/overlock is nice, but optional

As with all knitwear and stretch fabrics, a serger/overlock will make your life easier. If you do not have one of those, don’t despair. You don’t really need it. All serged seams on Bibi can also be sewn with a short, narrow zigzag stitch (~2 mm wide) on a standard sewing machine.

Fabric Options​

Bibi is by default designed as a close-fitting top and is best suited to knit fabrics with some stretch, such as jersey.

If your main fabric is elastic enough, can use strips of it to finish the waistband, armholes/cuffs and neck opening. Alternatively, you can also use rib fabric or store-bought strips of knit binding.

If you are making a default Bibi to see how it fits we recommend to start with a cheap fabric, such as old bedsheets, that matches the drape and stretch of the fabric you intend to make a finalised with.

tip

If you're new to sewing, interlock jersey is nice to work with, as it doesn't roll up. Prefer jersey with a few percent spandex for better recovery.

Fabric weights can also help you make your choice. A weight of 130-200 grams per square meter (or 4-6 ounces per square yard) is likely to be about right for a basic shirt.

note

Woven fabrics with good drape and thicker fabrics such as sweat could also work. Increase all ease settings to at least around 15% and ensure the neck hole is large enough to fit a head through. Alternatively, you can also add a zipper or buttons to the front or back to make it easier to put on.

Cutting Instructions​

  • Main fabric
    • Cut 1 Front on the fold
    • Cut 1 Back on the fold
    • Cut 2 Sleeve(s) mirrored (if enabled)
  • Ribbing
    • Cut 1 Neck Binding
    • Cut 2 Armhole Binding(s) or Cuff(s) (depending on selected options)
    • Cut 1 Waistband (if enabled)
Caveats
  • There is extra hem allowance at the bottom hem if there is no Waistband part.
  • There is extra hem allowance at the sleeve part if there is no Cuff part.
  • There is no seam allowance on the neck opening.
  • There is no seam allowance on the armhole if the sleeve is disabled.
  • There is no seam allowance on the long sides of the Armhole Binding and Neck Binding parts.
tip

You can cut the front or back parts on the fold, or you can cut the halves separately and sew them together. This is especially useful if you only have smaller pieces of fabric or if you want to add buttons or zippers to your design. In this case, make sure to add sufficient seam allowance on the center fold.